Effectiveness of Organic Fertilizers in Improving Soil Fertility, Productivity and Quality of Carrots (Daucus carota) in Southern Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

In the context of agricultural resilience to climate change, a strategy of replacing chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers has been adopted to improve the production of vegetable crops, particularly carrots. This study promotes organic carrot farming in Côte d'Ivoire by applying an organic biofertiliser based on poultry droppings and traditional medicinal plants to the soil. Different doses of this organic biofertiliser, applied to the soil by fertigation (dilution at 0.5% (T1), 5% (T2) and 10% (T3)), were tested under a crop of carrots (Daucus carota) in a completely randomized Fisher block design with 4 replications. The results show that yields varied significantly according to the different doses applied (p<0.05). High carrot yields of 27.5±1.29 t.ha-1 were obtained with treatment T2. However, plant growth indicators (plant height, number of leaves, root length and diameter) were similar for the three treatments T1, T2 and T3. According to the results obtained, treatment T2 would be suitable for achieving and maintaining an acceptable level of fertility and ensuring satisfactory yields for the carrot crop. Thus, the use of this biofertilizer should be encouraged for agro-ecological soil fertility management, and may be an alternative to synthetic fertilizers which, due to their high cost, are not accessible to growers.